I want to thank everyone who has started following, has favorited, or reviwed for this story it really means a lot! I want to give a big thanks to my super awesome beta Irishbrneyes! she is super amazing and this story wouldn't have made it off the ground without her!
"Jayne!" Kaylee's yell startled him. He jumped causing his head to slam into the underside of the hood of the car he was working on.
"OW!" He hollered. "Gorramit! What Kaylee?" He looked over and saw her sitting on the car she was currently working on waiting for him to pay attention to her.
"Don't you start coppin' an attitude with me Jayne Cobb!" She crossed her arms over her chest shooting him an icy glare. "You've been ignorin' me all day."
As he thought on that he realized that he had been. His mind had been wandering every so often now to that beautiful, tiny slip of a girl at the hospital. He'd been thinking about her laugh that reminded him of the wind chimes Mama Cobb always had on their porch in the summer. Then his thoughts turned to her deep brown eyes, and those luscious pink pouty lips. A man such as him shouldn't be thinking of a girl that young. Why she couldn't be much older than Mattie, if she was even that old.
"I have not been ignorin' you, Kaylee! I've been tryin' to figure out the ruttin' problem with this." He called over his shoulder glaring at the engine he was struggling to get fixed.
"Alright fine, but will ya listen fer just a second?" He knew without even looking that Kaylee was pouting, jutting her bottom lip out trying to score some sympathy from him. Jayne didn't know why she was even bothering to do it since he wasn't even looking at her.
" What ya need, Kay?"
"Well my husband finally has a weekend off, and I was wondering if you could take my shift this weekend. Just Saturday so's we can make a day of it." Kaylee gave him her 1000 watt smile, and seeing that he groaned inwardly.
"Yea sure no problem." He sighed slamming the hood down on the beat up old Mazda he had been working on for the better part of an hour. "Hey Kay I gotta go. Gonna meet up with Mattie for lunch. Could you do me a solid and work on Mrs. Kratzky's car for me? You're a genius with these types of things. Maybe you can figure it out cause I sure as hell can't."
"Well thanks fer all the flattery, but you know I woulda done it anyways. Say hi to Mattie for me." She smiled at him turning her attention to the car Jayne had just given up on.
As he put his tools away, and headed for the locker room he started thinking about his relationship with Kaylee. She was his best friend, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about hitting on her a time or two. The first time she ever mentioned her husband though he put a stop to the thoughts, and stopped having to many conversations with her in general. Not that she wasn't great, she was, but she did have the tendency to prattle on about the most mundane subjects. She was always happy about working on cars. It was her thing and Kay was great at it, but to Jayne it wasn't anything but a well paying job that got the bills paid. He always wanted to do something different. He use to think about buying a big plot of land like his parents use to have and being a farmer. Just living off the land the way his father had, but Mattie was always a sickly kid, and they needed to be near a hospital even before she was permanently in one.
The sky was a dark grey as he parked in the visitors parking lot. As he made his way into the hospital fat ran drops began to pelt his head and back. He shook his head off like a dog when he made it through the front doors, but stopped when he heard a woman giggle. He turned to his left to see River, his sister's very silent, yet very pretty friend, laughing at him. He smirked at her before walking slowly towards her.
"Hey River." He nodded as he headed for the elevators. "Ya gonna be joining me and Mattie for lunch?" She nodded her head and skipped along behind him joyously. He remained quiet the entire ride up until he looked down and saw that River was holding two packs of chocolate pudding in her hands. He raised an eyebrow at her, but remained silent. When they made it to Mattie's room he groaned in frustration. She was out cold. The poor kid was always tired with all the pain meds they had her on. It must have been a bad day for her. River ducked around him quietly leaving a pudding on Mattie's small bedside table. She patted Jayne's arm and moved out into the hallway. He looked at Mattie a little longer before deciding that he just wasn't gonna see Mattie until after he got off work that evening. Coming out of the room he saw River sitting in a chair in the hallway.
"It was good ta see ya River, but I gotta go get lunch and then head on back to work." He said trying not to hurt her feelings. For all the good it did she frowned at him anyway making him feel bad. Stretching out her hand she offered him the other pudding she was carrying. "This one for me?" he chuckled.
She nodded.
"Well thanks pixie, but I can't survive on only puddin'. I'm growin' boy ya know."
She rolled her eyes and started to try and sign to him.
"Okay, you're gonna have to stop doin' that and either write it down or start talkin'!" He watched as her face dropped and he nstantly regretted what he's said. She was glaring at him, her face clearing calling him out on his ability to be a total asshole. "Look I'm sorry, fergot myself fer a second."
She seemed okay with that answer and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt pulling him towards the directory. She pointed to where it said cafeteria and then looked back at him with a questioning smile. God she was pretty when she smiled. "Oh you wanna eat lunch with me?"
She made a fist and moved it up and down at the wrist.
"That mean yes?"
She did it again nodding her head.
"So what's no."
She quickly brought her pointer and middle finger together and brought them down to her thumb.
"Good now I can ask ya yes and no questions without ya hurtin' yer neck." She giggled again and dragged him towards the elevators.
Jayne had to admit for someone who didn't talk the girl could make him laugh. Her subtle face changes when he was telling her stories about Mattie were better than anything she could have said. He was in the middle of telling River about Mattie's first boyfriend when someone shattered the little world they had built for themselves.
"RIVER!" They both turned to see the her brother walking swiftly towards them. Jayne laughed to himself at how upset the doctor looked.
"He always act like this?" He asked through his own laughter. She raised an eyebrow trying to understand what he was saying. "Ya know, like he's got a stick shoved so far up his ass he could probably taste it" River threw her head back and laughed harder than he had heard her laugh since they met. She signed yes to him again just as Simon got to the table.
"River, you're late for your appointment with Mr. Wing." He placed his hands on his hips, which just caused River's giggle fit to continue. "You know Mr. Wing doesn't like it when you're late."
Simon watched in horror as River signed to him carefully making sure he didn't miss anything that she wanted him to know about what she thought of Mr. Wing. Jayne could tell by the look on Simon's face that River had said something she probably shouldn't have.
"River Elizabeth Tam! We pay good money to have Mr. Wing come in here to talk with you. Not to mention he is a genius in this field! You owe him some respect and your gratitude."
River barely waited for him to finish his sentence before she was signing frantically.
"River! Stop that this instant!" He yelled as he slapped her hands down. "I do not know where you learned that language, but it will stop immediately. Now you will get upstairs and go meet with Mr. Wing NOW!" River was taken aback by Simon's anger. She turned her attention to Jayne and signed to him. He looked to Simon for a translation. Simon sighed. "She says it was wonderful to see you again Jayne and she apologizes for her brother being such a jerk—" He was cut off when she elbowed him in the side. " a pompous ass and ruining all our fun. Maybe we'll see each other again when you come in tomorrow to be with Mattie."
"Yea see ya then lil' bit. Thanks for eatin' lunch with me." He smirked as she darted off to whatever extremely important meeting she had. "She's quite the firecracker, Doc" Jayne laughed as he stood up to throw away his trash.
"Yes, she does have her moments." Simon smiled uncomfortably. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt having this somewhat older man hang around his sister; no matter how good it was for her. He didn't mind when they were with Mattie, but them being alone together was just unsettling. "So has she said anything to you?"
"Nope. Just taught me yes and no. Told stories her about Mattie, and she laughed. Sometimes so hard she 'bout fell out of her chair." Jayne shrugged with a small remembering smile.
"She laughed? Out loud?!" Simon asked like this was a massive miracle.
"Calm down Doc, ain't no big deal." Jayne shrugged again. Simon rolled his eyes, all this shrugging was going to drive him insane.
"Actually, Mr. Cobb, it's a very huge deal. River hasn't laughed in a long time. Nearly three years. This is a huge step in her recovery." Simon was astonished. His baby sister, his little River hadn't spoken to him in three years. He hadn't heard her laugh or cry in three years either, and yet in just two days, with a total stranger, she was laughing again as if she had never stopped.
"Oh, well then… she was laughin' yesterday, too. My sister was tellin' her 'bout a camping trip we went on, and she started giggling." Simon's mouth dropped open. "Ya ever think that maybe she doesn't do that stuff fer ya because ya make such a big deal outta it?"
"Do you think that's it?" Simon hadn't even really thought about it, but River wasn't really one for making things into more than what they were, and if he was being honest to himself, Simon did like to hover. Especially where River was concerned.
"Maybe, but what do I know. Oh, and my name is Jayne. My father was the only Mr. Cobb, but anyway…" Jayne looked away from the doctor, trying to find an escape route. He looked up at the time. "Shit! Is it really that late?"
"Um…" Simon looked at the clock on the wall and then checked his phone which was in his pocket. "Yes it is."
"I gotta go Doc." Jayne waved over his shoulder as he bolted towards the elevators.
Before he left the hospital he wanted to say goodbye to Mattie. If she was even awake that is. Mattie was indeed awake and sitting in the room quietly waiting for Jayne with her doctor. Neither looked at all happy, and he could tell that she had been crying. Jayne slowed his pace as he walked into the room.
"Ah, Mr. Cobb, please come in. We were wondering when you would show up." The doctor said flatly.
"And where have you been big brother?" Mattie asked with just the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.
"I…uh… when I got here you was asleep so I ended up havin' lunch with River down in the cafeteria." He explained sheepishly while Mattie raised an eyebrow at his explanation, but let it drop for the moment.
"Doctor Smiles-A-Lot over here has some news for us." She said crossing her arms over her chest. He knew that she had already heard whatever it was, and knew that it wasn't going to be good.
"Yes, well, as you know we have been monitoring your sister's tumors for several months now since she had her surgery to retrieve the ones that we were able to remove." He waited for Jayne to acknowledge what had been said so far. When no answer came he continued. "Over the past few months of chemotherapy we were hopeful, but to no avail the tumors have to grow back slowly. I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but at this point in her treatment we feel that there is nothing more that we can medically do."
"What?" It was not registering in Jayne's mind what this moron of a doctor was trying to tell him.
"I said that there is nothing more that we can do for your sister."
"So, with knowing what type of news you'd be deliverin', you told my sister, who's only 16, that she doesn't have any other options, and that she's dyin' while she was alone? You couldn't have waited for her kin to get here to drop that bomb on her?" Jayne had never wanted to hit someone more in his life. As it was he was having a hard time keeping his fisted hands down at his side.
"Your sister asked to be informed of this by herself. When a patient is a certain age, which she happens to be, we typically take their wants, and wishes into consideration before that of the families." The doctor said backing away from Jayne as slow, and as fast, as he could. "I'm sorry, but that's the policy of—"
"How long?" Jayne interrupted as he looked between Mattie and the 'good' doctor. His sister, for all the information she had gotten today, seemed to be taking everything pretty well and in stride.
"It's hard to put a time limit on this sort of situation—" Jayne cut him off.
"Give it your best guess then. Just give us some kind of a time frame here doc." Jayne said through his teeth as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"A couple of weeks. Maybe a month at most." The doctor said as he stood up and crossed the room. He stopped at the door looking back at Jayne and Mattie sadly. "If you need anything, or if you have any more questions, whatever they may be, please have one of the nurses page me immediately. I am truly sorry Matalee."
"Thank you doctor." Mattie nodded and gave him a small smile. Returning her smile with a rare one of his own he left her room shutting the door as he went.
The silence in the room was eerie, and so much tension you could cut it with a knife. It was making Jayne very uncomfortable. He tried to clear his throat, but it felt like something was stuck in there. He felt his eyes start to water, and he couldn't stop himself as he started to cry. Mattie was the only person he had left in this world and now he was losing her, too.
"Jayne stop!" Mattie chastised him from her bed. "Would you please be a grown up about this!"
"The doctor just told ya that you're dyin' and yer mad at me fer cryin'?" Jayne said growing upset at how she was taking this.
"Well… it was bound to happen at some point." She shrugged.
"No! After your last operation they said that you would be fine."
"Oh! You just hear what you want to hear don't you?" She said while glaring at him. "What they said after my last operation was that they weren't sure. And that with chemo I had a slim chance at best. That's what they said"
"Yea well… I don't understand how ya can be so calm about this, lil' sis. This is me being a grown up." Holding his hand in one of hers, and with the other she turned him to look at her.
"Like I said before, this news isn't really that shocking since we knew it was a possibility." Now she had the Cobb's signature smirk on her face. "So? Tell me about your little date with River." She giggled to herself as she emphasized the word date. She was going to change the topic of conversation if it was the last thing she did.
"It wasn't a date you lil' busy body! You're too much like ma!" He couldn't help but smile at Mattie's wicked sense of humor where he, and his love life were concerned.
"Well…you know big brother I would really love to see you settled before I'm gone." She giggled to herself. Jayne didn't find it nearly as funny.
"With a girl who don't talk, and just so happens to live in a Psych ward?!"
"That's mean Jayne, but then again now that I think about it a girl would have to be crazy to get involved with the likes of you." She started laughing so much her sides hurt.
"I don't have to sit here and take this from you!" He stood up and pretended to stomp across the room. "I'm going back to work." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Well good! Don't want ya stickin' round here anyways."
"Good. See ya tomorrow brat! Love ya." He said as he smiled and waved as he left.
"Yea, I love ya too! See ya then." She smiled and waved happy in the knowledge that he would be back tomorrow. She was bound and determined to make sure he had someone when she was gone, and her new best friend River was absolutely ruttin' perfect for him.
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